Preventing Bloody Fridays

Friday, June 26, 2015 — it was the second Friday of Ramadan. Three countries were left shocked by three separate terror attacks. A man was beheaded at the exit to a factory in France, a massacre took place on a beach shared by two hotels in Tunisia and a suicide bomber attacked a mosque where 2,000 people were praying in Kuwait. The images were horrifying.

Did these ghastly attacks, some linked to Daesh, change anything in terms of world public opinion or its leaders? Do you think the world will turn to a new strategy to resolve this terror? Let us try to understand the “strategy of preventing attacks” of the countries in question by summarizing what went on in those places after the attacks.

As always in the wake of such attacks, leaders issued statements of condemnation. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls predicted that hard times await the French people. “The real question is not whether another attack will happen, but when.”

In the wake of these attacks, security precautions will be stepped up across the world. Perhaps, beaches will now be surrounded by barbed wire and tourists will be given bodyguards. Similar measures might be taken for the protection of mosques.

People in the targeted countries will be asked to pass through X-ray machines before entering public areas and will be subjected to more body searches. Muslims in European countries will be faced with more issues and are more likely to be placed under surveillance. France will raise the security alert level in the Rhone-Alpes region where the attack that shocked the country took place to the highest level.

Undoubtedly, these steps are necessary but I believe we need to step up our efforts to prevent such incidents. We desperately need a comprehensive strategy to clear this current mess.

It is likely that Europe will start producing more weapons and those countries facing the threat of terrorism and depend on foreign arms producers will start buying more weapons from Europe. Coalition forces will bomb more Daesh positions in Iraq and Syria. In the wake of those bombings, even more people will start fleeing Syria, Iraq and Libya and people in some European countries unwilling to share their lands with them will organize marches holding placards saying “No Refugees!”

Due to concerns over Daesh’s advances the international community will continue to turn a blind eye to the crimes of Assad against his own people; the embargos enforced by Assad in places such as Aleppo and Yarmouk will continue to be ignored. The communist YPG/PKK terror organization that has for years inflicted suffering on the Kurds in Syria will continue to enjoy direct support from the United States in the face of the growing strength of Daesh. All the illogical measures adopted to try and prevent violence will result in even violence.

If you notice, greater investment is now being made in security and arms, more people are being killed in the name of the fight against terror, more cities are being ruined and fear is becoming increasingly prevalent, not just in the Middle East but also in Europe. Yet there is still no move to adopt the sole solution, which we have been insistently setting out for so long. The sole reason for Daesh’s violence is its skewed interpretation of Islam. We need to counter this false ideology, which certain elements in the world are trying to spread in the name of Islam solely to promote their selfish interests. As is evident from the actions of Daesh and its likes, these so-called self-appointed custodians of faith have nothing to do with the true teachings of Islam.

The only way to eliminate Daesh, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram or in other words the evil ideology that is giving rise to such ruthless organizations is to spread the true teachings of Islam. We need to teach people about Islam and what its message is all about.

Only then will we witness an end to this insanity in the name of religion.

There is a great need to teach people about Islam and its concepts in their proper contexts. We need to keep our ears and eyes open to identify demagogues who twist the teachings of Islam for their own gains. Islam does not sanction killing of innocent people. Islam instructs its followers to always try to give preference to peace over war. We hope that no such incidents take place in Europe or the Middle East. However, issuing statements of condemnation, increasing production of weapons and stepping up security measures may be part of a long-term strategy. This strategy, however, will remain incomplete and to a great extent ineffective without an ideological battle against the extremists.